Test Driven Development methodology has a reputation of being the “most disciplined software development approach”. A model that let testers add tests to the existing test suite even before developers add new code to the existing build.
The Red, Green and Refactor Concept
The first step in Test driven development is writing a test case. The Test Case(es) should be written in a way that allows developers to understand what functionality to add or update in the existing application. When the tests are run, the results should fail. This is called the ‘Red’ phase. Here, “red” indicates a failed test result.
Now, the developers start writing code which should be good enough to pass the test cases. The tests written at the beginning are run against this code.
If all tests pass, the developer will clean up duplicates and redundant code. This is to ensure better readability and efficiency of the code.
The phase upto which the tests are made to pass is called the ‘Green‘ phase. ‘Refactor‘ phase is when the code is made clean. The ‘Red’, ‘Green’ and ‘Refactor’ phase repeats for every new functionality which is added / updated.
Pros and Cons
Here are few advantages of the TDD approach:
- These tests are like a prerequisite document to make sure every requirements are met.
- The number of missed Scenarios are very less. This increases the test coverage and improves the overall quality of the product.
- Cleaner code leads to lesser bugs.
However, like any other development method, this one too has few a few drawbacks.
A few shortcomings of TDD:
- With this approach, the quantity of tests written by the testers swell and maintaining them becomes a headache.
- Initial time taken by the testers to write huge test scripts delays developers from getting started with development.
- Not an easy concept to understand and implement.
Despite these drawbacks, TDD still has a lot of benefits.
So, is TDD really a reliable development approach?
There is a lot of debate in the internet whether TDD is good or bad for development. Some believe that test driven approach simplifies development whereas a few think it only increases the complexity.
There is a lot of confusion surrounding TDD. But the success depends on how correctly and efficiently it is implemented in practice. TDD works best when there is a right balance of time, quality and cost. One of the main deciding factors of striking the right balance is the Testing Harness(testing tool/framework).
Tools like Selenium increases needs additional frameworks for data-driven testing and generating reports and is not the best solution for TDD.
Refer How to select the right Automation Testing Tool?
A unified solution like Testsigma would be a better alternative. Testsigma is a cloud based AI-driven test automation platform in which the automated tests are written using simple English.
Testsigma is a catalyst that makes TDD approach work effortlessly
With the range of features that Testsigma offers, practicing TDD is not a complex task. Anyone can write automated tests in plain simple English. It does not requires coding skills and is quite easy for Manual testers who are shifting towards Automation Testing.
All the actions in your applications can be automated using simple English. This saves a lot of coding time for the testers. There is an extensive list of natural language commands available in Testsigma. Additionally, lets you write Selenium based Java code to create custom functions for your custom requirements.
The tool makes sure you accelerate in the ‘Red’ phase of TDD where the test cases are written.
Testsigma is a complete test automation ecosystem with thousands of test environments on cloud, Inbuilt Test Management, Test Data Management, Object Repository, Step Groups for reusability, Custom Functions for flexibility, Test Suites, Executions, Integration with CI/CD tools, Integrations with Test Management tools, Bug reporting tools, and lot more.
All these features help maintain your tests and progress smoothly through Test Driven Development.
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